Aging wooden actor Harrison Ford went after politicians who question climate change on Thursday in Culver City when he was honored by Conservation International, a non-profit environmental group he has been involved with for 26 years.
As the Hollywood Reporter reports, Ford received the organization’s Founders’ Award. ”We face an unprecedented moment in this country. Today’s greatest threat is not climate change, not pollution, not flood or fire," he said during his acceptance speech. "It’s that we’ve got people in charge of important sh*t who don’t believe in science."
Harrison Ford
Ford criticized politicians who let "political or economic self-interest denigrate or belittle sound scientific understanding of the causes and effects of human pressure on the environment."
He went on: ”I’m here tonight for one reason: I care deeply for the natural world. It’s not about me, it’s not about me at all, it’s about this other world we’re going to leave behind," the actor said. "If we don’t stop the destruction of nature, nothing else will matter. Jobs won’t matter, our economies won’t matter, our freedoms and ethics won’t matter, our children’s education and potential won’t matter, peace, prosperity. If we end the ability of a healthy natural world to sustain humanity nothing else will matter, simply said.”
Ford serves as executive vice chair of Conservation International, which celebrated its 30th anniversary at the event. The group aims to protect nature and advances a 'No Forests, No Future' theme, highlighting the Amazon rainforest and its importance in addressing what its advocates see as man-made climate change.
"Other than my family, doing this work has been the most important thing of my life," Ford said. "Nature doesn’t need people, people need nature."